Transformation of artistic philosophy

The 20th century is an era of sudden changes in Chinese history. The factors causing this mutation include the impulse from the West and the fission of the tradition itself. This change is so extensive that it includes all aspects of social life; This change is so profound that it directly points to the depths of people's hearts. The end of Chinese classical art and the alternation and transformation of the old and the new in the germination of modern art are the manifestations of this change in the field of art.

The social culture and education in ancient China is based on poetry, books, etiquette and music. "Prosperity in poetry, standing on ceremony, and success in music" is Confucius' cultural ideal. The "tragic spirit" of western literature and art since Greece has not been fully developed in Chinese art, and is often rejected and evaded. The depth of human nature that can only be discovered through intense internal contradictions is often submerged by the sincere desire for harmony. In Chinese culture, from the lowest level of material vessels, through the life of rites and music, to the realm of heaven and earth, is a great harmony and rhythm with no difference between soul and flesh. (Zong Baihua's "Art and Chinese Society", see Volume II of the complete collection) Some contemporary Chinese aestheticians have not been tired of discussing the view that "beauty is harmony" and tragedy is also beauty. It can be seen that gentle and sincere, harmony and perfection as the aesthetic pursuit of Chinese classical art has been widely recognized. As the ideal of ancient art, classical harmonious beauty requires that the various elements of art, such as reproduction and expression, subjective and objective, ideal and reality, emotion and reason, time and space, be treated and organized into a balanced, harmonious, stable and orderly unity. In fact, the practice of ancient art is basically standardized and molded with this ideal.

The development of Chinese classical art in the Ming and Qing dynasties has entered a flat and colorful broad world centered on the expression of secular and human feelings. Novels and operas have become the representatives of literature and art in this era. The sprouting and development of bourgeois factors in the Ming Dynasty enabled the civic literature and art at the lower level and the romantic thoughts at the upper level to flourish. Yuan Zhonglang, Tang Xianzu, Feng Menglong, Wu Chengen, Li Zhi and others were all in vogue and became one. Unexpectedly, the Manchus entered the Central Plains and enforced a conservative cultural policy, The depiction of the simple and vibrant market life has become a critical exposure of the decadent social reality of all kinds of gold and jade. In the late Qing Dynasty, the sadness became deeper and even more lamented, and the anger became more intense and even revolutionary. What he sang was "Patriotic Song" (a long poem by Kang Youwei), what he saw was "Revolutionary Army" (Zou Rong), what he heard was "Adventure of Prosperity" (Zheng Guanying), and what he heard was "Warning Bell" (Chen Tianhua)... The harmony of classicism was completely crushed by the huge wheel of history. The stone gate cannot be locked, and the Yellow River flows into the sea. The curtain of modern times rose with difficulty. The revolution in poetry, fiction, art, literature, and drama were in full swing.

Just as the transformation of modern Chinese culture has a gradual deepening process from implements to systems and psychology, the evolution of modern art also has a gradual process from content to form, integrating the Chinese and Western into a new body. For example, the revolution in the poetic world failed to break through the old style, but "contained the new artistic conception with the old style". The revolution in the fiction world also had the contradiction between "the artistic conception of the new novel" and "the genre of the old novel". The revolution in the art also realized that to improve Chinese painting, we should not only imitate a little western painting techniques, but must adopt the realistic spirit of western painting. This is especially true of the decline of ancient prose and the birth of new styles. For example, Liang Qichao, with the grace and courage of an article innovator, while liberated from the ancient style of writing, has no scruples to collect all the ancient prose, historical biography, prose, parallel prose, Buddhist scriptures, quotations, eight-part prose, western translation, and Japanese language syntax that are useful to him, breaking the boundaries between ancient and modern Chinese and foreign literary styles, and becoming one without one name, that is, the so-called "new style". The characteristics of the new style are summarized and explained by Liang Qichao in his "Introduction to the Learning of the Qing Dynasty" as follows: "It is easy and smooth, sometimes mixed with slang, rhyme and foreign grammar, and can not be controlled by the vertical strokes." "Its text is clear and its style is often emotional." In addition to the mention of "foreign grammar", the rest are closely related to Chinese culture. In particular, he can appeal to reason and emotion at the same time, and both aspects are extremely expanded and go hand in hand, and he also carries forward the classical art spirit of paying equal attention to reason and feeling and integrating into one. Therefore, there is a magic power for readers. It can be said that modern art is the internal development of Chinese classical art under the stimulation of western culture.

The model of Chinese classical art and culture is based on the ancient Chinese culture, which is an ethical standard, rational and precocious agricultural culture, and its basic spirit is self-improvement and virtue. On this basis, a classical artistic and cultural model with the aesthetic ideal of gentleness and harmony has been formed. "There is progress, there is transition". The development of Chinese art and culture has entered this transitional era. In this era, new art and culture models are brewing and forming. The formation of a new artistic and cultural model is the aggregation of many factors. First of all, it cannot be rootless, it should be a new development of tradition. Secondly, it is facing the challenge of western art and culture. Whether active or passive, it must respond. Finally, it integrates various factors, forms an aesthetic value, sets up a model, and forms the mainstream. From the inheritance of models and the accumulation of aesthetic psychology, a relatively independent artistic and cultural tradition has been formed and condensed into a new artistic and cultural model.

Art, as a form of social consciousness, in China at the beginning of the 20th century, as a complex social reality, presents a scene of prosperity. Change is a major feature of art and culture in this era. Therefore, art and aesthetics, as the expression and regulation of its ideological direction, are difficult to get systematic and rigorous consideration, which is more reflected in the answer and advocacy of specific questions that cause aesthetic changes in social life. This solution and advocacy is often achieved through the introduction of western aesthetic theories and the transformation of traditional Chinese artistic concepts. Next, we will make some brief comments on the relevant problems encountered by China's art philosophy and aesthetic philosophy in its modern transformation at the beginning of the 20th century. I think this is still a very meaningful work for the construction of art theory and the orientation of art practice in the new century. I especially hope to lead the way for modern sculpture theory and practice.

2、 Art and Philosophy

Human beings' sigh and understanding of the universe and life were initially expressed through primitive artistic activities such as singing and dancing, sacrifice, and so on. Philosophical thoughts, artistic works, good deeds, good morals, and communication are one. Chinese philosophy's grasp of the way of life in the universe is actually based on a poetic intuition imbued with the subject's life consciousness. Most of the ancient Chinese philosophers have strong qualities of poets and artists, and the spirituality of Chinese poets has always contained a long metaphysical feeling. Chinese philosophy is poetic and Chinese art is exquisite. This is one aspect.

At the beginning of the century, Wang Guowei was the only one who had advanced in art and philosophy. Wang Guowei absorbed some aesthetic ideas from Kant and Schopenhauer, and tried to combine them with traditional Chinese aesthetic ideas. On the basis of analyzing the achievements of Chinese classical art, he put forward a set of his own theoretical propositions, thus opening the way for modern Chinese aesthetics. With regard to the relationship between art (literature) and philosophy, he said that Confucian classics such as "Ci" and "Mencius", Dai "Ji" are the most quintessence of literature. If they are said from their thoughts, they are also pure philosophy. " Zhou and Qin Zhuzi, as well as Lianxi, Hengqu, Zhuzi and Yangming, "all these books of Zhuzi are also philosophy and literature." If they want to understand their literature completely without their philosophical thoughts, "they are still going to go ahead and go south and north" ("After the Constitution of the University of Literary Studies of the University of Classical Studies"). Because of its purity, philosophy and art are integrated. This purely means that philosophy and art (literature and art) are "the most sacred and honorable in the world, but not used in the world". Because "the will of philosophy and art is the truth. The truth is the truth of the whole world, so it cannot be compatible with the interests of one country at a time, and sometimes it cannot be compatible, which is the existence of its holiness, "Once the truth of the universe and life is suddenly understood, or the elusive artistic conception is expressed in the mind, once it is written, painted, and carved, this is the development of talent and ability, and the happiness at this time is by no means easy for the king of the south.". He had to bemoan the inability of pure philosophy and pure art to influence the ideological circle of our country.

What was the situation in the ideological circle at that time? Liang Qichao's "Academic History of China in the Last 300 Years" cited the following main streams: "First, I and my friends continue our previous struggles, advocate political revolution, import foreign theories' without choice ', and strive for the revival of China's past good ideas. Second, Zhang Taiyan (Binglin) 。 He was originally from textual research and was also a native of Zhejiang. He was deeply influenced by the Eastern Zhejiang School, such as Huang Lizhou and Quan Xieshan. He advocated racial revolution and also wanted to lead textual research to a new direction. Third, Yan Youling (Fu). He was born as a European student, and his native literature was also excellent. He specialized in translating English utilitarian books and became a family member. Fourth, Sun Yixian (article). Although he is not a scholar, he has a keen vision and advocates socialism first. " In the view of Wang Guowei, the important towns in the ideological circle in the late Qing Dynasty advocated political revolution, racial revolution, or utilitarianism and socialism. They "do not know what knowledge is, but have political purposes. Although there are academic discussions from time to time, it is not only plagiarism and destruction." In the literary circle, such as the poetic revolution, "It does not attach importance to the value of literature itself, but only regards it as a means of political education, which is no different from philosophy." The art of sculpture is even more difficult. Have you ever seen a sculpture without utility or politics? He stressed that "if you want academic development, you must regard it as an end, not as a means." (On the Academic World in Recent Years) Wang Guowei's voice was almost drowned in the heat of saving the nation from extinction. However, from the perspective of history and academic construction, it can be said that "great music has the faintest notes" is not excessive.

As for the possibility of academic philosophy, it is too simple to say that both of them have independent values and are motivated by truth. Specifically, the object and essence of the two are overlapped and connected. Wang Guowei said, "Today's wife has the mind, intelligence, will, and emotion. The ideal of these three is truth, goodness, and beauty. Philosophy is actually a combination of these three principles." ("Discrimination of Philosophy") also said that "the highest satisfaction of emotion is literature and art" ("After the Constitution of the University of Literature of the University of Science and Technology"). He also said, "A writer is nothing more than the result of knowledge and emotion" ("A Brief Talk of Literature"). It can be seen that the emphasis on emotion and knowledge is the same as philosophy and art, and especially on emotion. "The highest development of emotional life is the ideal of beauty." And "the wisdom of truth makes people distinguish things, but cannot make them love things. The good will is enough to correct people's hearts, but not enough to move them." Therefore, to make human life complete, it still needs "people who really know that they are beautiful and love". Our soul can only "reach the ideal situation of human beings" by "reaching the aesthetic awakening" (see "Horne's Aesthetic Education Theory"). Wang Guowei is endowed with both "knowledge" and "emotion", which enables him to integrate China and the West to connect the ancient and modern, and to view art from philosophy, thus becoming the beginning of modern Chinese aesthetics. As for this gift, unfortunately, he was trapped in the contradiction between emotion and reason and could not extricate himself, and finally became a tragic figure who ended his life with suicide, which is another matter (see Ye Jiaying's "Wang Guowei and His Literary Criticism"). The theme of artistic philosophy in this period should focus on emotion and reason, ideal and reality, content and form. Here is a brief discussion.

3、 Emotion and reason

Liang Qichao said in the Introduction to Academics of the Qing Dynasty that Dai Zhen's book "The Meaning of Mencius" intended to replace "rational philosophy" with "emotional philosophy", which is "a new direction for Chinese culture". "The foothold of its philosophy can really be regarded as a major overturn in 2000 years." Some contemporary scholars also pointed out that "a modern ideological history of China is a process of radicalization", "Emotional entanglement conceals rational thinking" (Yu Yingshi, Radical and Conservative in the History of Modern Chinese Thought - The Fourth Lecture on the 25th Anniversary of the Chinese University of Hong Kong). It can be seen that emotion has been attached great importance in modern Chinese thought.

At the beginning of the 20th century, China suffered from internal and external problems, and the country was in great danger. Saving the nation from subjugation and striving for survival became the center of every conscious Chinese consciousness. But on the issue of how to save the country, there are two main trends: some people want to overthrow autocracy and carry out political revolution; Some people advocate education to save the country and rebuild the soul of the country. The two can be said to complement each other. They all attach great importance to the emotional state of the people. The former aroused the public's anxiety and indignation with his "writing style often with emotion", guided by the situation, served its political propaganda, and consciously regarded literature and art as a means of saving the country. The latter focuses on reforming the backwardness and ignorance of the people through emotional education, and curing the spiritual laxity of the people. Emotional education, or aesthetic education, or artistic emotional education, has developed into a trend in the history of modern Chinese thought from small to obvious. It was developed by Wang Guowei, Cai Yuanpei and Liang Qichao in the late period, forming a tripartite trend.

We have to start with opium. Opium has done great harm to China's politics, economy and national spirit. Knowing its harm, why is it that the number of people who are involved in it is becoming popular? Wang Guowei investigated the reason and said: "Although this matter is not related to knowledge and morality in any way, the ultimate reason is the hopelessness and lack of comfort of the people. In a word, the reason lies only in the emotion." ("Detoxication Chapter") To stop it by banning burning, Wang Guowei thought it was to sacrifice the essence and seek the end, because "China's addiction to opium has psychological inevitability." ("Four Principles of Educational Incidence") Heart disease still needs to be treated by heart. Wang Guowei said, "Emotional diseases cannot be avoided without emotional harmony. It is necessary to make them have their heart in their spare time and then be able to relax themselves. If the wife's heart power is not placed here, it is placed there. If it is not placed on noble hobbies, it is inevitable that the mean hobbies will not be avoided." Therefore, if you want to control the mean hobbies, it is not easy to use noble hobbies. The purpose of aesthetic education is to cultivate noble hobbies and promote people's all-round development. Aesthetic education is an important way to save the national spirit and also a positive way to solve the opium poisoning. "Therefore, the fundamental way to ban opium is not only to cultivate the knowledge and morality of the people, but also to cultivate the feelings of the people. Where is the way? Religion and art are the two. The former is suitable for the lower class society, the latter is suitable for the upper class society, the former is for the hope of the people, and the latter is for the comfort of the people. These two are especially the most lacking and needed in our country today." The use of religion as a "detoxification" agent was later revised by Cai Yuanpei, while the promotion of aesthetic education was developed by Cai Yuanpei.

Wang Guowei's "beauty is the ideal of emotion", "beauty is the thing that makes people forget their own interests and enter the realm of noble and pure, the purest happiness", and aesthetic education "makes people's feelings develop to reach the realm of perfection", so it is called "aesthetic education is emotional education" ("On the Purpose of Education"), etc. Although their theory is quintessence, it did not cause much response at that time. The position and significance of aesthetic education in national education was established after Cai Yuanpei became the first education chief of the Republic of China and published the Opinions on Education Policy. In Cai Yuanpei's education system, there are military nationalism education, utilitarianism education, civic morality education, world outlook education and aesthetic education. Their respective functions are: "For example, the human body, the military democracy, the muscles and bones are also used for self-defense; the utilitarians, the stomach and intestines are also used for nutrition; the civil morality, the ventilator circulator, is also used throughout the whole; the aesthetic educator, the nervous system, is also used for transmission; the world viewer, the psychological function is also attached to the nervous system, and there is no sign of demand. This is the principle that the five cannot be neglected." It can be seen that the status of aesthetic education. What is aesthetic education? Cai Yuanpei said, "The aesthetic educator, who applies the theory of aesthetics to education, aims at cultivating feelings." (The first volume of the Great Dictionary of Education, the Commercial Press, 1982, p. 742) How to cultivate specifically? He said in "Substituting Aesthetic Education for Religion": "Pure aesthetic education, so Tao cultivates our feelings, makes us have noble and pure habits, and makes people's views, benefits others and damages others, and gradually depresses them." He also said: "The education of art brings up a kind of super-interest interest, integrates a kind of separation of people's and my outlooks, and maintains a permanent peace of mind." ("Cultural Movement Don't Forget Aesthetic Education") On this point of aesthetic education, Cai Yuanpei's thought is further than that of Wang Guowei. On the one hand, he consciously combines aesthetic theory with education. His aesthetic theory is mainly derived from Kant, and his universality and transcendence of beauty and psychological analysis of aesthetic feeling are all the same. Wang Guowei's aesthetic thought was also influenced by Kant in many ways. No matter here. On the other hand, he paid attention to the specific implementation methods of aesthetic education. He believed that "the implementation of aesthetic education should directly take art as education, cultivate the knowledge of beauty creation and appreciation, and popularize the society." Specifically, there are family aesthetic education methods, school aesthetic education methods, and social aesthetic education methods. "It has never been before birth, but after death". He stressed that teaching students according to their aptitude and combining with China's national conditions to achieve the goal of "true beauty". Cai Yuanpei listed aesthetic education as a new bourgeois education system with the administrative power of the General Director of Education, the President of Peking University and the President of the National Government University. Its influence is naturally much stronger than that of a simple scholar like Wang Guowei.

If the aesthetic education theories of the Kingdom and Cai Yuanpei focus on the social significance and independent value of emotions (due to the lack of social practice, the two are not organically integrated), especially Cai Yuanpei's "aesthetic education instead of religion" is to replace Confucianism and deny the worship of Confucianism, which is in line with the trend of the New Culture Movement. Liang Qichao in his later period, starting from the study of emotion itself, discussed the issues of emotion and reason, and artistic emotion education.

Liang Qichao believed that "the most sacred thing in the world is emotion". It is the driving force of all human actions. Why is emotion so powerful? He said that emotion, as the "mystery of life", is an instinctive and practical existence of human beings, and it can transcend instinct and reality. He regarded emotion and reason as two major spiritual factors of human beings, and tried to distinguish them from reason, He said, "Using understanding to guide people can at best let people know what should be done and how to do it, but it doesn't matter whether the guided people should do it or not. Sometimes the more they know, the less they do. Using emotion to stimulate people is like magnetism attracts iron. How much magnetism attracts iron, and there is no room to dodge." Liang Qichao opposed emotion and reason and said, "Emotion is a mysterious thing. It is impossible to dissect it with reason... Because only emotion can change emotion, and reason can never change emotion." (Review of Non-religious Alliance) Therefore, the cultivation of emotion becomes very important. Emotional cultivation is emotional education. The purpose of emotional education is to promote beauty and good, and discard evil and ugly. How to play the role of emotional education? He believes that art is the greatest weapon of emotional education. Because in his view, the essence of art is emotion. In order to play the role of emotional education, the focus is on the creation and appreciation of art. The emotional education of art is to achieve the purpose of "moving people" on the basis of "empathy". Empathy focuses on the artistic creators' overall expression of their true feelings, while empathy is a state that the admirers feel and reach. With this truth, we should be good at expressing it. "Because literature is a kind of 'technology' and language is a kind of 'tool', we need to use this tool well to have excellent technology; we need to have excellent technology to convey noble feelings and ideals.", It is to "strive to improve and experience your emotions in a noble and sincere way." This is not only the requirement of beauty, but also the requirement of goodness. Qu Yuan, Tao Yuanming and Du Fu are all representatives in this field. At the same time, Liang Qichao also attaches great importance to the study of "which emotion should be expressed in which way". In "Emotions in Chinese Verses", five kinds of expression methods are listed, namely, the expression method of rush, the expression method of swing, the expression method of implication, the expression method of romanticism and the expression method of realism. This is of pioneering significance for the summary of the expression art of Chinese poetry.

This emotional trend at the beginning of the century is the inheritance and development of ancient Chinese emotional philosophy. Wang Guowei's ultra-utilitarian beauty and the pessimism in his noble hobbies are the product of the combination of the traditional Lao and Zhuang thoughts with Kant, Schiller, and especially Schopenhauer's aesthetics. Cai Yuanpei's gentle and elegant temperament is completely a Confucian image, but he not only emphasizes the detachment of beauty, but also takes emotional pleasure as the premise of beauty's enjoyment. Liang Qichao took emotion as the essence of life and even rejected reason, which has a stronger modern humanism color.

The upsurge of emotion and thought is related to the shrinkage of modern Chinese intelligence. The establishment of modern China's advanced ideological system, or the reform of the ancient system, should also be dressed in the coat of classics, or seek the truth from the West, or take the jungle as the axiom of human beings, or imitate geometry and algebra to construct the system, and always feel the lack of emotion and reason. The evolution of the category of "reason" in traditional Chinese philosophy to the modern situation can be seen from Wang Guowei's "Interpretation". He said that the concept of "reason" "in Chinese language was initially abstracted from the analyzable and systematic", until Zhu Xi metaphysicized "reason", said that "reason is Tai Chi", and believed that "natural reason" can be recognized and "self proof", etc. Wang Guowei's fundamental fallacy in criticizing Cheng Zhu was that "reason" was regarded as "another thing". Zhu Xi also said that "if there is a natural reason, there will be personal desire. If there is a place to settle down, there will be people who want to come out." In this way, the word "reason" is given ethical value (good). Dai Zhen said that "the division of reason in nature is based on the feelings of my lover, but not on the truth." Like Zhu Xi, the truth and the good "are all attributes of reason." Wang Guowei criticized these traditional concepts, and he strictly distinguished the truth and the good, reason and virtue, and the motivation and standard of behavior, It is believed that "rational people have the ability to reason." "However, the role of our intellectual power is to create concepts and to determine the relationship between concepts. Apart from being a means of behavior, there is no ethical value." Thus, the meaning of the traditional "rational" category is determined in epistemology and logic (reason and reason), and the meaning of metaphysics and ethics mixed with it is eliminated. As a result, the connotation of this category is much clearer, but it is also much thinner. The sympathy of Feng Youlan, a modern Chinese philosopher who had to use the logic analysis method of western philosophy to reconstruct the metaphysics of Confucian philosophy, in Wang Guowei's "Interpretation", is not difficult to understand "in the words of modern philosophy" and "in the words of modern logic" (Chapter 69 of the New Edition of the History of Chinese Philosophy).

4、 Ideal and reality

Kang Youwei suspended "Great Harmony" as the ideal of society, and opposed feudalism with the bourgeois theory of natural human rights and freedom, equality and fraternity, aiming to "make everyone happy, fulfill their desires, and give them what they want", which is a humanistic utopia. However, reality is full of snares that bind people, "like hell" (Tan Sitong's "Renxue" 38). So some people rose up and shouted to "break the net", "break the net of the monarch", "break the net of ethics", "break the net of heaven" (Renxue. Self-narration) and so on. The gap between ideal and reality is like clouds and mud. How to realize the separation between ideal and reality? At that time, only resorted to art and the "realm" of art.

Wang Guowei's "realm" is the unity of ideal and reality. He said, "There is creation and writing, which are the two schools of idealism and realism. However, it is difficult to distinguish between the two schools. Because the great poet's creation must conform to nature, and the writing must also be close to the ideal." "Things in nature are related to each other and restrict each other. However, when they are written in literature and art, there will be some limitations of their relationship. Therefore, realists are also theorists. However, how to make up the world, its materials must be sought from nature, and its structure must follow the laws of nature, so even theorists are also realists." These are all good examples of the unity of idealism and realism in art. Ideal and nature are the two basic aspects of the unity of contradictions in the realm of art. They are "quite programmatic" in the construction of Wang Guowei's realm theory (Fo Chiu's Study of Wang Guowei's Poetics, Remote Sculpture, Peking University Press, 1978, p. 173). The so-called "in" and "out", "separated" and "not separated", "with me" and "without me" all revolve around this program.

The unity of ideal and reality in the realm of art requires artists to go deep into the universe and life, but it is not sticky, and it is reflected in the deepening of "in" and "out". Wang Guowei said, "A poet must be inside and outside the universe and life. If he is inside, he can write it. If he is outside, he can see it. If he is inside, he is alive. If he is outside, he is high." If he is inside, he must be "subtle", pay attention to external things, share happiness with flowers and birds, and have real meaning for every plant and plant. Only in this way can the object's "anger" and beauty be written. We should also be able to "go out", that is, "have the intention to despise external things", and despise external things, so that we can enslave the wind and moon, so as to reflect human ideals. In addition, the word "can see" is also worth pondering. Wang Guowei once said: "The reason why there is artistic conception in Yuanfu's literature is that it can be seen." (Preface to the Second Draft of the World Ci) The "view" here is not the "view" of Confucius' "poetry can be seen", but comes from the "intuitive" and "silent" in Schopenhauer's aesthetics. To be able to see "I" needs to be free from the desire of life. "The sun is still rising while the sun is still in the clouds", "the fish is free from the nets, the birds are free from the cage, and the birds are swimming in the mountains, rivers and seas. Because "art is a thing, people who want it do not see it, and people who want it do not want it", Wang Guowei said, "I can only see it when I am seven feet away.". In order to achieve "aesthetic comprehension", the poet must "have no self" and then "be able to see". This is the excellence of the "poet's eye". "Politicians' eyes focus on one person and one thing; poets' eyes focus on both ancient and modern". The former can make "achievements for a time", while the latter can often observe and reproduce "the truth of the world". By contrast, it is high. Both "entering" and "going out" need to be natural and true, and there is no trace to find, so as to have a state. Whether it is artificial or natural is the standard to distinguish "separation" from "separation". Simply say "true" and there is no separation. In the manuscript of Wang Guowei's "World Words", there is "truth" in the original work "without separation" (Buddha's revised "New World Words" and "World Words", East China Normal University Press, 1990, p. 87). On the contrary, there is no boundary without separation. Wang Guowei said, "Scenery is not only scenery, but also happiness, anger and sorrow. It is also a realm in people's minds. Therefore, those who can describe real scenery and true feelings are called realms, otherwise they are called realms." This kind of "true scenery" and "true feelings" comes from the beauty of the poet's body and things, and true feelings are even more critical. Because "those who have true feelings, their view of things is also true" ("Literary Little Words"). Only true feelings and scenery can make "readers feel kind and moving", "full of energy", and can not be separated. Otherwise, "who believes it?"! Wang Guowei closely linked truth and beauty (artistic conception), and took truth as the epistemological basis for judging the beauty of artistic conception. But his requirements for truth are also different. He said that "the poet of subjectivity" focuses on expressing (expressing) the true feelings of subjectivity. This kind of truth is original and originates from nature. Therefore, it has ontological significance. It emphasizes the "pure heart" of "viewing things with the eyes of nature and expressing feelings with the tongue of nature". "Objective poet" focuses on reproducing (imitating) objective real objects. Some people generalize the aesthetic standard of Wang Guowei's "realm" theory as "objectivity is more important than subjectivity in aesthetic observation, and reproduction is more important than performance in artistic creation. The two are inseparable." (Buddha's Research on Wang Guowei's Poetics, page 195) Whether it is appropriate or not is irrelevant. But literally, it seems to be only for objective poets. Wang Guowei did say that "an objective poet must experience the world more. The deeper his experience, the richer and more varied the material. The author of The Water Margin and A Dream of Red Mansions is also. A subjective poet does not need to experience the world more. The shallower his experience, the more true his temperament, and the later master Li is." A great poet has both true temperament and real world. As the saying goes, "Everyone's works, their words and feelings will be refreshing, and their landscapes will be eye-catching, and their words will blurt out without any pretentious makeup. What they see is true, and what they know is deep. Poetry and poetry are all the same. It is not a big mistake to hold this as a balance between ancient and modern writers." Knowing "separation" and "not separation" is only on whether it is "true" or not, and extrapolating from it, its "separation of feelings" and "separation of scenes" is also on whether it is true or not, Specifically, it is also. In fact, neither the situation nor the situation can reach the perfect state. This is true of "my state" and "the state without me".

Wang Guowei here emphasizes the connection between "truth" and "beauty", which reminds us that Liang Qichao also attached great importance to the "unity of truth and beauty" in his later years ("Art and Science"). He read Du Fu's "Qiang Village", "Northern Expedition" and other well-described poems, and felt that "the advantage of this kind of poetry is that the more detailed the facts are, the more thorough the true feelings are. We can understand the truth that" truth is beauty "when we read him well." ("Love Saint Du Fu") Liang Qichao focuses on observing "the truth of nature". He also pointed out that "the naturalist literature, in which the ugly and animalistic aspects of human beings are completely exposed and thoroughly written, is indeed true, but in this way, the value of human beings has almost reached zero." ("General Feelings in Europe") The criticism of naturalism is appropriate. At that time, the black screen novels overflowing in the society could be said to be the end of naturalism. In the 1920s, there was a stream of "true feelings" in the ideological circle, and the promotion of "emotion only philosophy" was also related to the emotional trend mentioned above and its emphasis on "truth".

It is worth mentioning that at that time, the ideal could not be realized in reality, and it had to pursue its unity in art, which also reflected the sadness of that era. Tragedy was the best spiritual consolation of that era. At the critical juncture of the Chinese nation, Wang Guowei, contrary to people still accustomed to the traditional "happy" spirit of peace, keenly discovered the important value of the "tragedy in the tragedy" of A Dream of Red Mansions. He believed that "the task of art is to describe the pain of life and the way of relief", and the author of A Dream of Red Mansions is "to cast the tripod of relief with life as the furnace and pain as the charcoal". Relieving pain in an aesthetic way is pessimistic and negative in reality, but its spiritual value cannot be erased.

5、 Content and form

At the beginning of the 20th century, from the perspective of art and culture, it was an era of explosive content and poor form, and an era of dead dragging alive. In the art world, the voice of revolution is also higher than before. As Liang Qichao said in his "Poems in the Ice Room", "In the transitional era, there must be revolution. However, the revolutionaries should change their spirit, not their form." The revolution in poetry, fiction and literature he advocated, in order to reform the needs of reality, pay more attention to the new terms, new ideas and new artistic conception, which belong to the content, while for the old style, the old genre, which belongs to the art form, is rarely touched. We know that content determines form and form depends on content. In a certain range, the change of content will not cause the immediate change of form, and form also has relative independence and stability. In this transitional era, the reality of art development is that although there has been a sharp conflict between content and form, the independence of Chinese classical art form has not finally broken through. At this time, Wang Guowei put forward the proposition that "the beauty of all is the beauty of form" ("The position of elegance in aesthetics", which is quoted below, without another note.), which can be regarded as the precursor of the revolution of art form set off by the May 4th Movement.

Wang Guowei said, "Except for our feelings, everything that belongs to the object of beauty is form, not material. And all forms of beauty can not be expressed without other forms. But through this second form, the beauty of the beautiful is more and more beautiful, and what we call ancient elegance is this second form." He divided beauty into two categories according to the popular view in modern western countries, that is, beauty and grandeur (that is, sublimity), both of which are superutilitarian in essence, The beauty lies in the form. Their differences lie in their respective characteristics in terms of their constituent factors, styles and functions. "Beauty lies in the symmetry, change and harmony of form". "Magnificent" is a "formless form", which is based on the form of an object, which is beyond the range of our knowledge and power, or whose form is not conducive to us, but we feel that it is beyond human power. The "beauty of all forms" that Wang Guowei said here, that is, beauty and grandeur, is the "essence" of "ancient elegance", so it is called "the first form", and ancient elegance is "the second form". It uses the "acquired" and "experiential" way to express the beauty of the natural state, so that "the beauty of beauty is more and more beautiful", and becomes artistic beauty. This is the function of elegance. The first form can become artistic beauty only through the second form. Therefore, ancient elegance has an independent value, which is "the beauty of form and the beauty of form".

Wang Guowei's quaint category was put forward to make up for the deficiency of Kant's theory of genius. He believed that Kant was inaccurate in attributing all works of art to works of genius. Beauty and grandeur are the only talents with unique vision and ingenuity. Most artists and works of art are achieved through learning and imitation, which is attributed to the category of ancient art beauty. "If his personality is sincere and his knowledge is sincere, even if he has no artistic talent, his production is still quaint." It can be seen that he has separated the artistic "labor" from the artistic "talent" and made it achieve aesthetic independent value. From the perspective of practice, because the ability of elegance can be acquired from cultivation, "it can be the backbone of the popularization of aesthetic education". It can be seen that "the value of antiquity can not be as beautiful and magnificent from the aesthetic point of view, but from the effect of its education to the common people, it can be said that its scope is relatively large and its effect is quite remarkable, The brave impact of the aesthetic stereotype of emphasizing ethical content rather than artistic form. However, he divided the beauty of form into the first form and the second form, and unintentionally gave an inspiration and hint to the way and way of the later art form revolution, which is very useful for our modern sculpture creation.